:blink: My Mothers Father has a Brother...he lives in Seascale in Cumbria! He's unhurt, thank GOD...others were not so lucky :unsure-1:

Twelve people were confirmed dead and three were fighting for their lives last night after a taxi driver went on the rampage in the UK's worst shooting incident since the Dunblane massacre.

Derrick Bird, 52, shot dead his twin brother and at least one colleague before driving through rural west Cumbria firing seemingly at random at people in towns, villages and on country roads and then killing himself.

Eleven people were injured, three critically, during the three-and-a-half hour shooting spree which paralysed the county as police, hunting him on the ground and by air, ordered a lockdown.

Cumbria police said they might never completely uncover the reason for what they described as the "most exceptional and challenging incident" the small force had ever dealt with. Last night, they were examining 30 crime scenes.

The alarm was raised in the harbour town of Whitehaven at 10.30am. By then, it is believed, Bird's twin brother, David, and the family solicitor, Kevin Commons, were already dead. It ended only when the gunman's body was found in a copse outside the hamlet of Boot at 1.40pm.

Two guns were recovered by police, a .22 rifle with a telescopic sight and a shotgun.

There were unconfirmed reports that Bird, from Rowrah, near Frizington, who was divorced with two sons and was newly a grandfather, had argued with colleagues on the taxi rank the previous night.

One friend, Peter Leder, told CNN Bird had said to him: "You won't see me again."

According to one woman in Whitehaven, Bird "shook them [his colleagues] by the hands one by one and said there's going to be a rampage in this town tomorrow and it's going to start with my mother ... They just laughed and didn't take him seriously."

Others spoke of a reported family row over the will of Bird's seriously ill mother, involving Commons. Commons's home was last night cordoned off by police, and letters from his law firm were visible on a windowsill of Bird's home.

It is thought that after killing his brother and Commons, Bird headed to Whitehaven and shot a fellow taxi driver named locally as Darren Rewcastle. Witnesses said Bird then drove through the town with a gun hanging out of his car window. Police released a map showing Bird's progress south to Egremont, Gosforth and Seascale, where the killings continued.

One witness, Barrie Moss, said he was cycling through Egremont when he came face to face with the killer, who had just got out of his car. Bird, carrying "this absolutely huge sniper rifle", stared at him before driving away, Moss said. He then saw that an older woman carrying bags of shopping had been shot. Moss described how he and another man cradled the woman as she died: "He must have seen her, stopped, got out and shot her point blank in the back of the head. I don't think anybody could have done anything."

Further south, in Seascale, another witness, John Reeves, said he was loading his car when he heard two gunshots and ran out of his house. "As I turned the corner there was this poor chap on a bike and he had been shot, he was turned to the wall and this car had sped off. A few of us tried to help this poor man, but he was gone."

A police lockdown of the area as the shootings progressed saw shops, offices and even the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant close their doors. Helicopters and armed officers from other police forces were brought in to help in the hunt. Cumbria's deputy chief constable, Stuart Hyde, said police had yet to establish whether it was a premeditated or random attack. "This has shocked the people of Cumbria and around the country to the core," he said.

It was a "terrifying and horrific incident", he said. "Our thoughts go out to all the family and friends and colleagues of those killed or injured in this tragedy."

The Queen said she was "deeply shocked by the appalling news" and expressed sympathy to those affected.

David Cameron pledged to assist communities "shattered" by the killings. "The government will do everything it possibly can to help the local community and those affected," he told MPs.

The home secretary, Theresa May, said the events were "very serious and tragic". "Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims of these shootings. "It's a terrible incident that has taken place in Cumbria today, but I would like to pay tribute to the way in which the police and emergency services have worked very closely together to deal with this incident. It is the third tragedy to hit west Cumbria in six months, following the devastating floods last year and the deaths of three people, including two schoolchildren, in a coach crash on the A66 last week."

Many among the injured were taken to West Cumberland hospital in Whitehaven, where a major incident was declared and routine operations cancelled, and to hospitals in Carlisle and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Bird's spree is the biggest mass shooting since Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and an adult at Dunblane primary school in March 1996, before killing himself.

Before anyone asks...the guy was a legal gun carrier...he had a permit. This is not some strange criminal...he was legally allowed the guns he used in this attack.

Bonnie

06-04-2010 07:59 PM

I always wonder why they just don't kill themselves (first) if they're so miserably unhappy. But of course they get some insane kick out of knowing they're making others suffer before they take the coward's way out.

Terrible!

Tyburn

06-04-2010 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonnie
(Post 119859)

I always wonder why they just don't kill themselves (first) if they're so miserably unhappy. But of course they get some insane kick out of knowing they're making others suffer before they take the coward's way out.

Terrible!

Well the first few shootings are explained, he had a grudge with his family, and other co workers, so he killed them...but then he seemed to drive aimlessly...he drove through a crowded town...ignored everyone...then shot the driver of a car...he went down a lane, ignored pedestrians...but shot a kid who was strimming a hedge...(My Sister kinda knows the guy who was shot strimming a hedge, coz he was friends of her friends, he used to play rugby in some minor league I think)

Apparently, Bernard and Muriel were in town that morning, but retired indoors 15 mins before the gunman went through their town....These people, a lot of them are what you would refer to as "Seniors" we call them Elderly, or Old Aged Pensioners...the area is in one of Englands national parks known as the Lake District, so its rural, and small close knit elderly communities...this will be a real shock to a lot of them, who probably felt they knew him well, I imagine some of advanced age might die of shock or fright in the coming month over this.

I feel so dreadful for them :sad:

J.B.

06-04-2010 10:59 PM

Terrible situation indeed. :sad:

Happy to hear your Great Uncle is unharmed, Dave. Prayers to all those affected by this tragedy.

Tyburn

06-05-2010 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.B.
(Post 119887)

Terrible situation indeed. :sad:

Happy to hear your Great Uncle is unharmed, Dave. Prayers to all those affected by this tragedy.

He is fine yes :)

He's quite special to me, because he shares so many of the traits my Beloved GrandFather had. He too is a Logician (my Mothers Paternal Side is made up of Natural Scientists and Mathematicians!) ...and he has the best and most dry sense of humour ever. He is of course most advanced in age now, and I havent seen him in yonks, but I did phone Mother the second I saw the name of the town on the news, because I knew he lived there...The Clipsham Family tree is quite vast , I think our particular lineage is almost completely dead now...but the recent ancestry was based in Norfolk, not to far from a Village called "Clipsham" which used to have a stately hall at one time. so the marriage of Clipsham and Duff actually connects two vast and very well favoured familes..

unfortunately, as far as our branch of the tree is concerned, both names are about to die out. such a shame...I think Bernard only has Daughters...and I am the only male in my house with the ability to procreate left :laugh: (I'd have to bear several sons if I really wanted to ensure the family name...and hope they bear males also :unsure-1: its just not going to happen :sad: )